عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

Jimmy Kimmel Signs 3-Year Extension for ABC Late-Night Show

Jimmy Kimmel appears at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards in in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. (AP)
Jimmy Kimmel appears at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards in in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. (AP)
TT
TT

Jimmy Kimmel Signs 3-Year Extension for ABC Late-Night Show

Jimmy Kimmel appears at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards in in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. (AP)
Jimmy Kimmel appears at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards in in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. (AP)

Jimmy Kimmel celebrated his 20th anniversary as ABC’s late-night host early, signing a three-year contract extension for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

“After two decades at ABC, I am now looking forward to three years of what they call ‘quiet quitting,’” Kimmel quipped in a statement Tuesday.

His show debuted in January 2003, and the new deal means he will remain with it into the 2025-26 season — giving him a generous window to make comedic hay out of politicians, who are favorite monologue targets, and the 2024 presidential election.

Among network late-night hosts, Kimmel, CBS’ Stephen Colbert and James Corden and NBC’s Seth Meyers wade regularly into political humor, with Kimmel amping up the focus during the Donald Trump years inside and outside of the White House.

Kimmel’s decision contrasts with changes in late-night programming. Conan O’Brien wrapped his show in 2021, Corden announced that he’s leaving “The Late Late Show” next year for other opportunities, and TBS said that “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” was ending after seven seasons.

Besides his late-night job, Kimmel has become a mainstay as an awards hosts — including for 2017 Oscars when he tried to smooth over the best picture envelopw mix-up that led presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to wrongly announce “La La Land” as the winner over “Moonlight.”

The three-time Emmys host had a misstep of his own at the Sept. 12 TV awards ceremony, during the presentation of the comedy series writing trophy to Quinta Brunson, creator-star of ABC’s comedy “Abbott Elementary.”

A pretend-drunk Kimmel had been dragged on stage by co-presenter Will Arnett, who announced Brunson’s award, and Kimmel remained flat on his back during her acceptance speech. He was roasted online as thoughtless by some and cited as an example of white-male arrogance by others, and offered an on-air apology to Brunson two days later on his show.

“The last thing I would ever want to do is upset you, because I think so much of you. I think you know that. I hope you know that,” he told her, with Brunson replying, “It’s very kind of you to say that.”

Kimmel also hosts and, with Norman Lear, is executive producer of ABC’s specials “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” which revisit episodes of classic Lear sitcoms including “All in the Family.” Kimmel also is the creator of the game show, “Generation Gap,” hosted by Kelly Ripa.

He’ll be taking his late-night show, nominated 12 consecutive times for best variety-talk series, to Brooklyn for a week this month. Kimmel, whose long-time sidekick is Guillermo Rodriguez, is known for comedy bits including “I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy,” which are seen on the show and on the YouTube channel that has extended his audience.

Craig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement that Kimmel has not only entertained viewers with his irreverent humor and interviews but also “gotten us through some of the most momentous events in our history with optimism and heart.”

The host has shared moving details about his young son’s medical issue and called for health care reforms.

Most Viewed

 
 
Entertainment

As India's Bollywood Shifts, Stars and Snappers Click

Paparazzi, here taking pictures and videos of Indian actress Akanksha Puri (R), have developed an increasingly symbiotic relationship with Bollywood. Sujit JAISWAL / AFP
Paparazzi, here taking pictures and videos of Indian actress Akanksha Puri (R), have developed an increasingly symbiotic relationship with Bollywood. Sujit JAISWAL / AFP
TT
TT

As India's Bollywood Shifts, Stars and Snappers Click

Paparazzi, here taking pictures and videos of Indian actress Akanksha Puri (R), have developed an increasingly symbiotic relationship with Bollywood. Sujit JAISWAL / AFP
Paparazzi, here taking pictures and videos of Indian actress Akanksha Puri (R), have developed an increasingly symbiotic relationship with Bollywood. Sujit JAISWAL / AFP

From riding pillion on zooming motorbikes to round-the-clock airport stakeouts, India's celebrity-hunting paparazzi photographers have gone from "outcasts" to becoming a key part of Bollywood's vast film industry machine.
Times have changed for celebrity snapper Manav Manglani, who scored big at the wedding of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty in 2009 -- by climbing a tree and perching on a branch for hours to spy over the venue's walls.
"We ...were considered outcasts," said the photographer, describing the early days of his trade.
Fifteen years later, Manglani pushes streams of content to over 6.5 million followers on Instagram, AFP said.
"We are part of the system now", he said, commanding a squad of nearly 20 photographers who stake out popular gyms, chic cafes and luxury hotels, their phones buzzing with tips.
The team has divided the megacity into coverage zones, including someone stationed at the airport full-time.
Mumbai-based Bollywood, the core of India's Hindi-language film industry, is the longtime heart of moviemaking in the world's most populous nation and a major cultural export.
In celebrity-obsessed India, it can be a lucrative trade.
'Brand-building'
Bollywood began a century ago.
But it was in the 1970s that film magazines began publishing "inside" industry gossip, said Ram Kamal Mukherjee, a former editor-in-chief of Stardust magazine.
The Bollywood publication brought "stories from the studios, bedroom stories, stories from the make-up van", he said.
The first wave of paparazzi began in India in the early 2000s, with freelance photographers chasing celebrities.
The insatiable demand by social media and ubiquitous availability of smartphones shifted gears again -- with photographers no longer "just providing pictures" but working to help produce a narrative, he said.
"Today there is intervention," Mukherjee said, citing examples such as staged incidents where young actors seemingly spontaneously hand cash to beggars. "There is brand building."
That has come alongside wider industry changes, including viewers shifting from the big screen.
Traditional blockbuster spectacles drawing crowds into cinemas have been challenged by long-format narratives on streaming platforms viewed at home, commonly called OTT or "over-the-top" services in India.
This, observers say, has helped paparazzi develop a role in the publicity machine.
"Being an influencer with followers with a very popular page, helping them promote the movies, the OTT, and the brands... we are now important," Manglani said.
Indian movies released in theatres raked in an "all-time high" of $1.4 billion in box office revenue in 2023, according to consulting firm EY.
But competition is fierce.
Mandvi Sharma, a former publicist for mega-star Shah Rukh Khan, said the two sides can be "co-dependent", especially for younger actors hoping photographers can boost their fame.
"Things have changed", said Viral Bhayani, a photographer with over 12 million Instagram followers, recalling how a decade ago he would have to "beg" for information about organized media events.
It's been quite a shift, "from being thrown out of places... to now being called everywhere", he said.
Bollywood also faces rising challenges from other Indian-language film centers. Of the country's 1,796 cinema releases last year, just 218 were Bollywood's traditional fare of Hindi-language movies, said EY.
'Need us'
Photographers now snap more candid images of celebrity daily lives, often more relatable to millions of fans than red carpet glamour or formal magazine shoots.
Despite their careers being more closely linked, old frictions remain, especially for big-name stars.
In 2023, Bollywood star Alia Bhatt made a police complaint for "gross invasion" of privacy after two photographers took pictures of her at home from a neighbouring rooftop.

But Manglani said his images are also a useful barometer to measure actors' presence on the screen.
Producers, directors and the brands, "are keenly watching whom am I featuring... what's happening, and what is the traction on that celebrity," Manglani said.
"We used to run behind them," he said. "We wanted money, we were earning by the picture... Now it's both ways. They also need us, we also need them."
Sneh Zala, a younger celebrity snapper, sees his job as a service for both sides.
"I want the fans... to see where their favourite celebrities are going, what they are doing in their lives," said Zala.
"I am just the mediator between the actors and their fans."